Essie Super Bossa Nova

As promised, here is Essie Super Bossa Nova.  A beautiful pink packed full of pink and purple shimmer.  It went on easy in two coats, but it wasn't nearly shiny enough for me so I had to break out my Seche Vite to get that high gloss finish this pink craved.  I snapped these pics while at a car fest with my boyfriend Chris.  Pretty good use of time I think :)

Essie Super Bossa Nova
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So I really wanted to do a comparison of Super Bossa Nova against my other pinks.  OPI's Pompeii Purple and That's Berry Daring were the closest I had.  I've also seen requests for a comparison of Super Bossa Nova against China Glaze Ahoy!.  So here we go!

From Left to Right: China Glaze Ahoy!, Essie Super Bossa Nova, OPI Pompeii Purple, OPI That's Berry Daring
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Hopefully you can tell from the picture (I'm still working out how to take good pictures indoors), but China Glaze Ahoy! isn't anywhere close to Essie Super Bossa Nova.  Ahoy! is a raspberry jelly packed with gold shimmer.  The other three polishes are all definitely pink.  Pompeii purple has a blue flash, but the base close is very similar to Super Bossa Nova.  That's Berry Daring seems to have the same base, but looks like a straight up creme (despite the beautiful blue flash in my bottle). Honestly, even thought I love Super Bossa Nova, out of the 4 it's probably the one I'd be willing to part with.  I think it's due to the lack of a shiny finish.

Essie Super Bossa Nova is part of Essie's 2011 Summer Collection - Brazilliant.  It can be found at Ulta, Drugstores or online for $8.

OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries

I promised you guys more pink, so more pink you shall have!  :-)

For my weekend manicure, I decided to dive into my stash for an old favorite - OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries.  Not many pinks jive well with my skin tone, but this is one of the few that does.  Yay!

Ate Berries is a (surprise!) berry pink creme.  It's kind of hard to describe, because while it's certainly pink, it also falls heavy to the purple side.  It's almost a raspberry color.  But not really real raspberries.  More like artificially flavored raspberry candy.  It applies like a dream in two easy coats.  I have to be honest here.  These photos aren't even remotely color accurate.  I tried to take as many as I could in different lighting, but I just couldn't get the "berry" color to come out.  I tried adjusting the color in my photos, but failed miserably.  Sorry, guys!!  Imagine the color to be a deeper, more saturated, but vibrant raspberry pink.

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This is seriously one my favorite pinks ever!  It's so saturated and gorgeous!  Makes a great pedi color too!  :-)  Ate Berries in the Canaries was released with OPI's Spain collection of Fall 2009.  Seems kind of out of place in a fall collection, no?  Either way, it's an amazing color, and thankfully made the cut to the permanent collection.  It's been rumored to be dupe-y to Deborah Lippmann's Between the Sheets.  I don't have that one to compare, but Jessie does and she tells me they're close, but not complete dupes.  They're probably different enough to own both, but if you want to save some money, you can pick up the OPI for almost half the price.  (But those Lippmann bottles are so prettyyyyyy!)

I thought I'd spice up my plain ol' creme with some glittah!  I threw on two coats of OPI Mad as a Hatter over Ate Berries on my thumb for a "Blackberry manicure."  Ate Berries works perfectly with the multi-colored glitter in Mad as a Hatter.  A match made in heaven!  Click to enlarge to see all the awesomeness that is Mad as a Hatter!  :-)

...And then after I took my photos I managed to screw up both thumbs so horribly that I had to take off the glitter and just throw on another two coats of Ate Berries.  Sigh.  I hate wasting any awesome glitter, but I especially hate wasting and awesomely hard-to-find glitter.  Argh!  Can't win 'em all, right?  ;-)

OPI Turquoise Shatter

Shatter... oh how I tried to resist.  I made it through the China Glaze Crackles, OPI Black Shatter, OPI Silver Shatter without blinking an eye.  Then OPI made an announcement that they were releasing 3 "blue" shatters!!!! I instantly feel in love with Navy, Turquoise and Blue Shatter, but I still wasn't convinced the look of shattered nail polish was for me.  So I told myself I could get one to try, and if I liked it then I could get more.

I ordered it online because my local Ultas are constantly failing me.  I really think someone comes in to both my local Ultas the day everything is released and just buys up the store!  I found it online and ordered it immediately.  It came just in time for me to wear it with Essie Super Bossa Nova (which I'll highlight in my next post), the perfect combination for my 80's themed outfit to see The Legwarmers on Saturday night.  (The Legwarmers were AMAZING by the way and you should definitely go check them out if they ever visit a city near you).  I wasn't home much this weekend but thankfully it was super sunny and allowed me to take some great pictures of OPI Turquoise Shatter over Essie Super Bossa Nova.

OPI Turquoise Shatter
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OPI Turquoise Shatter
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Close up of OPI Turqoise Shatter over Essie Super Bossa Nova
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Hopefully you can tell why I love Turquoise Shatter so much.  It's beyond gorgeous and I can't wait to try it over other colors. Turquoise shatter is a beautiful summer turquoise that leans more green indoors and blue outside.  It's got a beautiful shimmer to it that can be seen both inside and out. For this look, I layered one coat of OPI Turquoise Shatter over two coats of Essie Super Bossa Nova.

OPI Turquoise Shatter was just released for the summer and can be found at Ulta for $8.50.  Since my Ulta is constantly out of everything, I got mine at Aveyou.com for the same price.  I'm planning on picking up Blue and Silver Shatter now that I've worn this and I can't wait until the new China Glaze Metallic Crackles come out!!!!!!!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Orbis Non Sufficit

Jessie and I must really be on an RBL kick lately, 'cause she and I both are just blazing through them!  I'm keeping the party going with Orbis Non Sufficit.

I had my eye on Orbis for quite some time, but never pulled the trigger (so typical for me, right?).  Of course within a few months it sold out - never to be seen again.  The lemming monster hit me hard, and yet again I found myself pining after a polish I couldn't have.  I was lucky enough to be given a decant of Orbis, along with decants of RBL Scrange, OPI Sapphire in the Snow, and OPI Damone Roberts 1968, from an incredibly generous lady on MUA named Marlene.  It wasn't a swap, but an RAOK (Random Act of Kindness), in which she sent these samples to me out of the kindness of her heart, not asking for anything in return.  It's one of the nicest things someone's ever done for me, and Marlene - if you're reading this - I can't thank you enough!  MUAH!

Orbis is a medium-deep dusty green creme that falls somewhere between olive and forest green.  I can't speak too much on the application, because this was given to me in a small mini bottle with a different brush from the standard RBL brush, but I can tell you that even then, it applied extremely smoothly.  The pigmentation was awesome - what you see below is just one coat!  It reminded me of RBL Dead Calm, without the heinous bleeding during cleanup.  It's also suuuuper shiny, even without a top coat (but you know I still slathered it in it!).  I was sad my mini bottle was so small, because I had to pose with my Seche Vite instead.  :-P

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Love this!  It's a green creme dream! Orbis was created by Steph from The Polish Addict as part of the Fall 2009 Blogger Collection.  The collection also included Mismas, created by Michelle from All Lacquered Up, and Scrangie, created by none other than Scrangie.  If you're curious about the name, Orbis Non Sufficit translates to "The World is Not Enough" - the Bond family motto.  Brownie points!

I had an uneasy feeling that I may have already had a dupe for Orbis in my stash.  I pulled out Orly Enchanted Forest for yet another comparison.  Enchanted Forest has been my go-to medium-dark dusty green creme for quite a while now.  

(L) RBL Orbis Non Sufficit, (R) Orly Enchanted Forest

Sigh of relief.  Not dupes!  Even though I'd describe these to you in the exact same way, you can see that Enchanted Forest is deeper and bluer than Orbis.  Different enough to own both, though if you own one you may not necessarily need the other.  I'm happy to have both!  :-D

If you're as smitten as I am, there's good news and bad news for you.  The bad news is that Orbis has been sold out for a good couple of months now.  The good news is that it was just voted back in RBL's Vintage Bring it Back Vote.  I'd expect it to be back in stock sometime early next year, just judging from the timeframe from the last Bring it Back vote.  Can't wait!  *\o/*  Yay!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine

So during my trip to Rescue Beauty Lounge (RBL) in NYC, I got a Catherine pedicure and completely fell in love with the polish. Too bad it's Limited Edition and has been sold out for quite some time. To add insult to injury, I could have bought Catherine many times, including during the 50% off sale (RBL no longer has these, so don't get your hopes up). Catherine is part of "The Real Housewives of the Tudor Dynasty" collection that Ji Baek created for Fall 2010. And even though I saw many swatches of all the Tudor ladies, I never thought they were special enough to purchase. Unfortunately pictures do not do this polish justice. Even my favorite nail polish bloggers can't capture the real life beauty and shimmer of this. One just has to trust that you NEED a polish like this. Too bad I didn't....

Enter Pam from Polish Police. I contacted Pam on MUA (a message board for makeup and nail polish) to see if she was interested in swapping her brand new Catherine for any polish on the RBL website, that I would purchase and send her. She quickly said yes, selected Grunge, and our swap was underway!!! We added another polish to our swap as well - Pepto Pink for Recycle - so look for Recycle later on too. Pam was amazing to chat and swap with - thanks Pam!!!! Now let's give Catherine some love.

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Catherine is definitely one of my favorite RBL polishes. A deep, dusty, royal purple with gorgeous shimmer. The RBL site says the shimmer is pewter, blue, and fuchsia. You can see the shimmer really well in the 3rd picture. This polish applies like butter. It's so smooth and flows so evenly. I also spoil myself when I use RBL polish, and use the RBL treatment system as well. It's so easy and gets me a minimum of 5 days of wear (which for me is a lot).

Catherine isn't currently sold on on Rescue Beauty's website, but it does pop up on Ebay occasionally. Ji Baek is closing her New York Salon on June 24th for an online only business, and has stated via her facebook page that they may find boxes of sold out polish during their shutdown, so if there is any hope of buying direct from the source, it's best to start stalking now through the end of June. RBL Polish retails for $18.

My Beach Manicure: Milani HD and OPI Paris Couture For Sure

Hello lovelies!  The hubby and I just got back from celebrating our two year anniversary with a fabulous weekend at the beach in Ocean City, Maryland.  YAY!  Okay, it was really more like a few hours at the beach and then hitting up bars with friends, but same difference, right?  ;-)  Knowing I'd finally be exposed to more sun in one weekend than I had all year, I had to do a manicure that thrived off the sun - holographics!!

I started with Milani 3D Holographic polish in HD.  HD is a silver scattered (meaning the rainbow/oil slick effect is weaker and kind of dispersed, or "scattered" on the nail) holo, and was surprisingly sheer.  I used three coats for what you see below, and I still had some VNL.  Application was easy, and I didn't need to use any special base coats.  Scattered holos are a little tricky to photograph, as you need the light to hit them in just the right way to really show off their beauty, so I took a ton of photos.  I'm sure you guys don't mind.  ;-)

The first two photos were taken under my Ott-Lite.

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 And since holos love sun, the next two photos were taken in sunlight.

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The Milani holos are really great and super affordable.  I'm pretty sure Milani made these permanent, so you can find them for less than $5 at your local CVS, Rite Aid, etc.  You can also get them from Milani's website, along with a few other favorite Milani hard-to-finds, at www.milanicosmetics.com.

I loved the look of HD, but I wanted to spice it up a bit.  I found OPI Paris Couture for Sure on my first dusty hunt with Jessie and had been dying to try it out.  This was the perfect opportunity!  PCFS (that name is way too long to type out over and over again) is an old black-label OPI that was released with the Shopping Around the World holiday collection back in 2005.  It's labeled as a "glitter top coat," but it really isn't a glitter at all.  It's more of a very fine irregular holographic flakie to my eyes.  I'd call it a scattered holo, but it certainly has some linear holo qualities.  (Linear holos have a very pronounced rainbow/oil slick effect on the nail.  They're not as sparkly, but the overall effect is jaw-dropping.  I have a few to show you - just waiting for a good sunny day!)

OPI PCFS is very sheer - even more so than Milani HD - which makes it perfect for layering.  I added just one coat of PCFS over HD.  It applies extremely well, and I was so happy with the result!  You can see how much more pronounced the holographic effect is!  The first three photos were taken under my Ott-Lite.

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And then in sunlight.

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PCFS is so awesome!  I hate that it was limited edition.  Your best bet for tracking this one down is swapping, dusty hunting, or shelling on on eBay.  There's no listings currently, but I see them pop up all the time.  It's one of the few that I'd say would be worth it.  It's just too cool!

OPI Paris Couture for Sure and Milani HD say hello from the beach!  :-D

Essie Smooth Sailing

Hello again! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. It's ridiculously hot in Maryland right now, so I thought I'd wear a polish to make me think cool thoughts. Enter Essie Smooth Sailing, from the 2011 Summer Collection Braziliant. This polish is a breeze to apply - an easy 2 coats. It's a beautiful periwinkle blue packed full of silver shimmer. I tried using the Ott-Lite again (to no avail!) but my mostly-sunny skies up on the deck turned out quite well. In the pictures the shimmer is more evident in the bottle than the nail, but in real life that's not the case. My nails are a shimmery blue lovers dream. Smooth Sailing look so beautiful in the sunlight - check it out!

Essie Smooth Sailing was just released, so it can be found at Ulta, Drugstores, or online for $8. I picked up one other polish from the collection, which I should be posting next week - Super Bossa Nova!

Good news is I'm really liking this nail polish blogging thing - I've already got my next 8 manicures planned!! Until next time...